Chapter 464 (Patreon)

Meridia POV

This realm is strange.

Interconnected by a higher being in the form of a Tree. Its ‘roots’ and ‘branches’ penetrated every corner of this place. They were simply enough to perceive for me, even if a portion of its existence was but energy that operated in a higher dimension.

It wasn’t too dissimilar from my own Colored Rooms. Obviously it couldn’t compare to Oblivion in its entirety, but I  had not much to compare to as I was still new to seeing the sights outside from my own corner of existence.

Oddly enough, the in between, the Dimension Gap that everyone refers to it to that all these realms are connected to, it was almost like a smaller Oblivion in scope and scale.

It was odd to see things so similar yet different.

Regardless, the Tree itself notice my approach even when I hid myself from even the Gods of this world.

I could not find annoyance with this fact as it was something much older and more powerful than a ‘mere’ God.

It was peculiar, it reached out to probe me. Like a child wanting to touch something it didn’t quite understand.

There seemed to be a hesitance to its actions, unspoken feelings mixed with its metaphorical vines that reached for me, but otherwise, it was more excited and curious than anything.

I reached out and allowed it to inspect me.

It would do me no good if I was rude to a child, I had much more decorum than that.

Once it was satisfied, I could vaguely sense it wanted to know why I was there. It seemed unable to communicate properly, even for beings of our caliber, perhaps its still learning that aspect?

Wilhelm did state that it was ‘newly awoken’ using the Night’s artifact.

And now that I could see it in person, so to speak, I could understand what he meant by such words. Truly, it had a smidge of a ‘will’ that was more than something instinctual. Despite this, it would not grow to something beyond that. That small spark, it was just that. I could see into the essence of this being and know that full will was something that went counter to its purpose and existence.

What it has now is already a miracle of some capacity.

It seemed to move out of my way as I did my best to relay my intentions. Or perhaps it didn’t care about what I wanted to do and simply deemed it a nonissue in its perceptions.

Regardless, I passed through the ‘branches’ and entered these Realms fully.

I had a small desire to explore, but I pushed it to the back of my mind for my main purpose of appearing this far away from my love and his home.

One of two reasons in this instance, but the latter was not something so urgent that I was required to travel this far.

I came upon the main ‘body’ of the Tree that was centered around this Realm.

Its truck opened up for me with but a thought and I ventured into its depths. At the darkest and deepest point of this Tree, at the very end of these realms where no true light shined, and no living being could some and go without arduous effort, I arrived.

There was one living being that persisted here, one that was damned to live its immortal life forever in darkness. And the being that caused a strange and unfamiliar fury to swell up inside of me.

Even all the new experiences that came with taking a Mortal lover, this was a new feeling. Anger at someone else for causing harm to someone I cared about. I have been upset in the past when Wilhelm had come to harm, but I have never had it so….directed.

In this dark pit, I allowed light to shine.

I put a finger to the person’s head, and even under his sudden and muffled noises I forced the ‘light’ back into his empty eye sockets.

I restored his vision and his words.

“Who –“

My finger twitched and his newly restored speech was….taken away again.

I surprised myself, I was not usually so rash but merely hearing his voice caused my anger to reach its tipping point.

Although, it was just as grating to hear his unintelligible screams of pain after losing his tongue.

“Your name is Loki.” I narrowed my eyes. “Nod if what I said is correct.”

His eyes widened as my power washed over him.

He nodded.

I put a finger to his head and restored his ability to speak once more. “If you speak again without prompt, it will be much more agonizing for you.”

He nodded his head promptly.

There was something else there, was it hope? Did he think I was there to rescue him or perhaps enlist his aid in return for his freedom? I could understand his viewpoint, why else would anyone else visit him in this particular situation?

“Loki.” I reiterated. “I find myself in an odd situation and I am unsure of how to act. I don’t consider myself a particularly vengeful person. If someone wrongs me, this receive a suitable punishment and I don’t dwell on it. Yet at this moment, someone has wronged me to a degree that I find myself believing that a simple punishment is not enough. What do you think?”

The Not-God licked his lips as if to test his ‘new’ tongue. “I would be more than happy to assist you in any vengeance, my wonderful Lady.”

I ignored his attempts to gain my ‘affection’ and attention. “This world is oh so small.”

“That it is. So small and insignificant. Why, it wouldn’t take much for one to….crush it.” The Not-God smiled despite his condition.

“Yes, it would not be difficult for me to crush it between my fingers if I chose.” It was strange, I usually did not speak this much, I was not this open. “I have seen many worlds come into existence since the dawn of the Universe. This is but one of many, yet it has earned my particular attention. Do you know why?”

His eyes widened for a brief moment. “N-no.”

“Because, against common sense and perhaps even logical thinking, I allowed myself to fall in love with a mortal man. And you harmed him.”

“I can –“

I grabbed him, not allowing him to speak as my hand clamped over his face. He assuredly was going to attempt to talk h is way out of the situation, I was aware of his percularities from Wilhelm.

“I was ancient before the space dust that became your world was even born.” I pulled him up so he could meet my eyes. “Your supreme beings, your Dragon Gods are but children in my eyes. You are to the insects in the earth as I am to you. So, I invite you to contemplate how utterly insignificant I find your existence right now.”

I threw him to the ground because this close proximity was grating to me. I removed his ability to speak again because I no longer wished to hear his words, his attempts to weasel out of any punishment. “700 years. It is a small number, insignificant in the scope of the universe, of creation. I could blink in that time frame and not notice the passing of the years. Yet, those 700 years belong to my mortal lover. My Mortal Lover who has no desire to live eternity, and one day he pass on as all Mortals do. It is a small number, but those were precious years that you stole from me.”

Admittedly, he was not the one who harmed Wilhelm and stole away part of his lifespan, but Wilhelm seemed to have a good impression of the one he fought. I did not wish Wilhelm to get annoyed with me, and one does not punish the sword for cutting, but the one who swings it.

This Not-God was the mastermind so he will receive my full ire.

“There is not much I could add to your punishment, but to come here and not do anything, my anger will not be abated. You have something within you, something precious you also hold dear, and I will take that way. There was a spark of hope in your eyes at my arrival, I will squash that forever.” I held my hand up and reached for him again. He just tried to crawl away, squirming and doing his best to attempt and flee.

It was futile.

“You will never escape this prison, because it now extends to your own mind.” Just a tap on his forehead, and his body went limp. “Watch for eternity, trapped within your own mind that should some miracle that you even leave this prison, you will never escape it, for it would require someone far beyond a God to undo what I have done.”

What remained of his body went limp and he fell to the ground, yet I knew he could hear and understand everything I said.

Disgusting creature.

I did not wish to look upon him any further and left the pit he dwelled in.

I cast my gaze towards the realm of Gods to find the second object of my intentions for arriving here.

She was not difficult to find, I was more than familiar with her aura, even after it changed so drastically.

With a thought, I was in a library full of different texts, scrolls and books.

“Big Sis!” Jinn practically lept out of her seat and grabbed hold of me.

I was not unused to her shows of affections and perhaps….I enjoyed them. “Hello, Jinn.”

“Did you come all the way here to see me?” She looked up happily.

“Yes.”

“Liar~” She pursed her lips. “Why did you really come here?”

I huffed in annoyance. “You are annoying perceptive when you wish to be.”

“Hmmm, is it a secret?” She tried to probe me, not so subtly. “Does Wilhelm know~?”

“He does not need to know.” I crossed my arms. “Besides, he is too busy right now having his way with the Death Goddess”

“Uh huh.” Her eyes brightened up. “He’s doing lewd this with Izzy!?”

“So it would seem.”

“Aww, I wanted to watch.” She hummed. “Are you sure you won’t want him to know you’re here?”

“Perhaps we should tell him about you.” I narrowed my eyes. “Why have you not spoken up about what’s wrong with you?”

She looked down at the ground. “I didn’t want to worry anyone.”

“….silly girl.” I sighed, rubbing her head. “Come.” I pulled her to a place to sit down. “I will help you. Explain to me what’s wrong.”

“Ah, well, Grandpa taught me how to split my thoughts into parallel streams.”

“How many.” I immediately knew what she had done.

“….only a few.”

“How Many.”

“A little under 200….”

I flicked her forehead.

“Owie.” She pouted.

“You are lucky you did not overly harm yourself. Even I do not have that many of my iterations out at a single time.” Not that I couldn’t, but having that much out gets annoying to operate properly. And a projection with a stream of my thought is no different in practice than multiplying her internal thoughts to process in parallel.

“I needed them to fight.” She pouted again and I wanted to give her another flicker, but my hand seemingly had a mind of its own and instead began to run through her hair.

“Open yourself, and I will make sure you are not in any danger.”

“Okay~” She happily opened up her mind to my touch, not a single ounce of distrust within her.

I could see her new changes, her Divinity in the depths of her soul and how it permeated her whole being. It helped stave off the consequences of straining her ‘mind’ so much. “You couldn’t ‘turn them all off’, correct?”

“Yeah….” She admitted. “Please don’t tell Wilhelm.”

Silly girl. “We will keep this just between us.”

“Okay, thanks big sis.” She yawned as adjusted herself to lay her head upon my lap.

“Sleep, you will be well once you wake.” I soothed her into a slumber.

It would not be too difficult to shift those altered thoughts back into a singular focus. Simple, if tedious to perform. But a thorough check of her new status would not be remiss either.

I would not allow her be in any danger as long as I can help it.

@***@

Insert Lewd with Izzy here.

Note: Lewd was taking too long, figured I’d just release it later and not drag the time out trying to finish it up.

@***@

Wilhelm POV

There was nothing like having a good time with one of my girls to put a pep in my step.

“Ladies.” I greeted Salem, Venelana, and Yasaka who were all sitting around in Yasaka’s Garden, drinking tea it seemed.

A tea party?

Also, I was surprised Salem was still here. She’s usually a lot less sociable than the others.

“Wilhelm.” Yasaka smiled, answering first, gesturing to the open seat next to her.

“Am I interrupting?” I wasn’t being facetious either. I looked at the others. “Seriously,  if I am, tell me to go away, I don’t want to interrupt any kind of bonding time you’re having.”

“We were wrapping up.” Venelana spoke.

Salem didn’t say anything, so I assumed it was fine to sit down and join them.

Yasaka looked at me, her nose twitching and slowly, a knowing smile grew on her face as her tail found my waist. “Someone’s in a good mood~”

“Oh my.” Venelana covered her mouth. “Who was it?”

“Sorry, I don’t want to hurt Salem’s virgin ears.”

“Oh, please.” Salem snorted, rolling her eyes. “I am well aware of the perverse acts you get up to. You have a harem, I am not oblivious to what that means besides everything else.”

“Does that mean you want to hear all the intimate details?” I raised an eyebrow.

Salem let out one of her adorable huffs. “I don’t need to hear about your intimate encounters.”

I reached over and squeezed her hand briefly. It was enough to see the phantom of a smile appear on her face. Atleast it let her stop being ‘annoyed’ with me so overtly.

“How are you doing, dear?” Venelana asked.

“I’m good. Made sure nothing was wrong going on inside. Just going to relax for the next few days.” I leaned back feeling oddly at peace in this moment.

“Some rest will do you well.” Salem seemed to approve.

“I havn’t seen Achilles and Atalanta, are they still at Asgard?” Yasaka questioned.

“Yeah, they wanted to stay there a bit longer along with Sasaki and Thorum. I can’t blame them, it’s a pretty cool place. They know how to reach out if they want an express ticket back. Otherwise, they can leave whenever they want by other means.”

“Jinn too.” Venelana pointed out.

“Jinn too.” I nodded. “She’s probably raiding their library at the moment.”

“Some things never change.” Yasaka chuckled.

“So, what was I not interrupting?” I looked around. “What were you saying behind my back?”

“How arrogant, you think we only speak of you?” Salem rolled her eyes. “We have other interests.”

“And what interests are these, hmm?” I looked at her with a smile.

“Hmph.” She crossed her arms. “If you must know, we were discussing a cooperative agreement.”

I blinked, not expecting that. “Pardon?”

Yasaka looked at the others then at me. “Venelana here had a wonderful idea she broached to both of us, and we’ve been negotiating. Essentially, Salem is going to be using her Grimm to dig up large quantities of Dust, and I will be purchasing it for a steep discount.”

“That….is a good idea.” I just didn’t think Salem would….well, get involved like this.

I was glad she was making an effort.

“What are you trading, exactly?”

“This and that.” Yasaka shrugged. “Honestly, whatever she wants. But since she’s just herself and maybe a handful of people…”

“I do not require much.” Salem simply. “And Dust is not worth much to me. Labor is also an irrelevant aspect, thus you need not be concerned.”

“It will be extremely helpful to the upcoming war.” Yasaka nodded in thanks.

“Speaking of, how’s that going?” It felt awkward to ask, as I was both involved, and not really involved.

“Well.” She said pointedly. “Honestly, I was considering moving up the time table. I originally wanted the ‘Six Months’ prep time to let the initial fervor to die down. It would be no good for them to march into battle in a hysterical state. And that succeeded to a good extent, and preparations are nearing a state that I could be content with.”

“It’s your call, it won’t take me long to start my calculations and research. I can get started on that so you know what kind  of time table you have to work with.”

“I won’t tell you to get started this minute, but let’s approach that again in a week or so.” Yasaka replied. “Frankly, at this point, it’s just getting our people trained a bit better and accumulating a nice nest egg in case things go badly and we have to sustain the resources needed for a prolonged conflict.”

“Well, speaking of a nest egg, I have something I wanted to mention before, but Wilhelm was preoccupied.” Venelana interjected.

“Oh?” I looked her way. “What’s up.”

“I don’t know if you knew, but you’re rather popular in the Underworld at the moment.”

“I heard that from Zekram, but I admit I didn’t really care to look into it.”

“It’s exploded since what happened a few days ago. Especially since your Devil Features made an appearance in pictures and videos.”

I scratched my head. “Is it really that big of a deal?”

“Sweetie, you basically look the part and fill it as one of the original Satans. Not only do Devils worship power, but they have an almost reverent respect for the original Satans. I despise them in all honesty, but there’s almost an inherent respect for them inside of me that I can’t shake off.”

“I actually saw a few things when I was taking a break the other day.” Yasaka added. “You’re exceedingly popular amongst the lower caste of Devil Society. Sort of a poster boy for those born to lesser means to grow into status.”

“They are aware that I both want nothing to do with Devil Society as a whole, and I’m technically born into a Pillar family, right?” I asked.

Venelana shrugged. “The first is a hotly debated subject. The Second, well, your success can be objectively pointed out as your own efforts and not merely a bloodline like my son, that many argue.”

“Honestly, I have no idea how to feel about the idea of people putting me up on a pedestal like this.” I admitted frankly.

“I know, which is why I didn’t bring it up before, but it’s a little relevant now. You see, after your popular boomed, a lot of people started selling…. merchandise.”

“….you’re kidding me.”

“I’m afraid not.” She giggled. “Toys, pictures, other products.”

“Other products?” Salem raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Well, I was bring polite. There was more than one brand of sex toy with his face attached to them.” She replied.

“…..I am unsure of how to feel about your society.”

Venelana just laughed at that.

“On one hand, I don’t really care what they think. On the other, I’m a bit annoyed that my likeness is being used without my consent.” I tapped the table.

“Well, you have to options from what I see.” Venelana help up two fingers. “The first is that you can personally come down and take action. We do have our own laws, and other Factions sort of have influence on some aspects. For instance, if we use the likeness of any other popular deities or such, we usually pay a portion of the profits towards the faction in question.”

“Seriously?” I was honestly surprised.

“You would be surprised. While Gods in general don’t usually have much a use for mundane money and such, it’s more the principal of the matter. You can think of it sort of as tribute or a tithe.” Yasaka explained.

I suppose that makes more sense.

“What’s the other option?”

“I could handle it for you.” She smiled. “Give me a couple days and I would bring them all under heel. The only question would be if you wanted it to stop or rake in the profit.”

My default reaction was almost to immediately tell her to squash it all. But at the mention of profit, well, I was very forthcoming about being rather greedy. “How much profit are we talking?”

“Well, I honestly couldn’t say. But it wouldn’t be something insignificant. Of course there would be costs to properly manage and distribute everything, but you would be looked at a very hefty income source.”

“Could you funnel everything into Yasaka’s accounts?” I asked.

“That wouldn’t be difficult.”

“You sweet man.” Yasaka leaned over, kissing my cheek. “You know you don’t have to. You’ve already done so much…”

“I know, but I want to.” I gave her a smile.

Yasaka let out a reluctant sigh. “I won’t turn down any help that’s offered. You know our gardens have started producing the alchemy ingredients. We can start mass producing the same potions soon.”

“Oh, that’s good news.” I need to check up on the Yggdmillennia faction. They probably have a good amount of potions for me to pick up.

“It’s very good news.” Yasaka smiled brightly. “Not just for the war, but afterwards, we’ll have a significant source of income and our faction will flourish quite quickly.”

“There’s also one other matter I wanted to talk to you about.” Venelana spoke, flipping her hand over, producing a letter with a particular wax seal on it. I hesitantly took it from her hands as I opened it up and began reading it. “Zekram asked me to give it to you, he expressed that it was of high importance that you meet him at your earliest convenience.”

I skimmed over the letter.

Blah blah, niceties, flowery words, lots of unnecessary stuff before he basically reiterated what Venelana summarized in a single sentence over the course of several paragraphs.

I tossed the letter on the table.  “How can someone use so many words to not say anything at all?”

“It’s a well-honed gift.” Venelana mused. “But basically, he deems it prudent enough to be overt like this, which is somewhat out of character for him, so I would say that he isn’t just being facetious with his statement.”

“Annoying, but I guess it couldn’t hurt.” I mulled it over for a moment before decided. It was oddly polite with me, I suppose I could return that good will he gave me. “On an unrelated note, I had a thought and I figured I would ask. Would everyone be interested in a beach day?”

“Oh?” Yasaka perked up. “That sounds like a wonderful way to relax. I’ve been needing to take a break myself with how busy I’ve been. I can squeeze in a day soon that I can push all my work aside.”

“That sounds like fun.” Venelana smiled.

I glanced at Salem who returned a blank look.

“Do I seem like the type of person who lounges around on the ‘beach’?”

Well, a little bit of wind was taken from my sails. “If you don’t want to come, I wouldn’t want to force you.”

She rolled her eyes. “I suppose I can attend if it is merely a day.”

And just like that, I’m picturing Salem in a bikini.

And the others.

Jeanne too.

Bikinis for everyone!

I should go find Izzy again because clearly, it wasn’t enough.

Well, I had a sudden thought that seemed to squash all the lewd thoughts that were filling my head a moment prior. “Maybe…..if you want to invite other people?” I looked up at Venelana. “I wouldn’t be against meeting my Half-Brother.”

Venelana’s eyes widened, and a bright smile filled her face. “I think he would like that very much; I will talk to my son and his wife about the particulars.”

Technically, I already met my half-brother, but then again, we didn’t exchange a single word of dialogue.

“If there is nothing else, I will be returning home.” Salem stood up from her seat.

“Do you mind if I come along?” I asked.

She quirked an eyebrow. “Any particular reason or do you simply wish to annoy me?”

“Well, I always want to annoy you. But in particular, I thought we could work on a project together. You know about the Poison and Anti-Magic sword I’m doing, right? I got enough materials and stuff that I feel confident in finally getting started on the actual process. Figured you would find it interesting.”

“I do find myself curious about such an endeavor. Very well, let us depart to my castle.”

“Have fun~” Venelana waved.

“When you come back, we need to talk about our plans for Kunou’s birthday. But don’t rush, go have fun and relax.” Yasaka waved me off too.

I wasted no time opening a portal to her castle like I’ve done in the past. We simply walked through and left my birth world behind.

“I will never get used how convenient this magic of yours is to travel.” Salem said simply. “How do you wish to get started.”

“It’s complicated, so we have to do it step by step.”

“Very well, what is the first steps.”

“Well, first thing first, we have to keep, passionately, and for several minutes at a minimum.”

Salem crossed her arms and gave me a very deadpanned look. “Did you believe that would work?”

“No, but I had a small bit of hope.” I smiled innocently.

She rolled her eyes again. “Wait until we are done.” She huffed, looking away slightly.

I just straightened my tie because I felt myself getting overly excited. “For real though, we should probably just find a suitable spot because some of this stuff is highly volatile. Like….I don’t know if you can survive it even.”

She seemed surprised by that but acknowledged it all the same. “I have a few places in mind that I don’t care if they are rendered uninhabitable.”

“I –“ I paused because I sensed something vibrating within my storage ring. I took out my scroll and realized that I had several missed messages. Which, was to be expected, I should visit Pyrrha while I was here. She knew that I wouldn’t be receiving messages in real time and everything would be delayed. But she still sent me updates and what-not just from the surface level ones I read. I couldn’t help but smile at some of them and made the mental promise to definitely go visit her when I was done.

Though I had a video sent from an unknown number.

“Something wrong?” Salem looked at me.

“No, just someone randomly sent me a video and not many people should know this number. Do you…mind if I..?”

“I am in no hurry.” She shrugged.

I played the video and the image of a man I sorta recognized appeared was that…the person next to Ozpin that time I visited, what was his name again?”

“Hey, this is Qrow.” The person in the video introduced, kind of slurring the last bit and nearly following over himself.

He was drunk, very clearly and obviously drunk.

And I guess that answered my question on his name.

He was quiet for several moments and I wondered if something was wrong before he started again. “Oh, right. I was wondering if you could ask your Grimm Booty call if she could give back the part of Amber’s soul she stole, I’d ‘preciate it.” And the video shut off.

….what?

@***@

A/N

As I said above, I got stuck on the lewd for like 4 hours and said fuck it, I’ll take a good nap and then get it done when I’m well rested. Otherwise, here we go, Wilhelm finding out where Cinder’s magic suddenly popped out from. Otherwise, Zekram wants to talk, and a beach episode in the future.